Gene Maddaus

The Writers Guild of America called a strike one year ago today, declaring that the streaming boom had created an existential crisis for writers. The WGA got most of what it wanted from the strike, though it took almost five months for the studios and streamers to come around. But as the boom has gone […]

Harvey Weinstein was already effectively serving a life sentence when he was flown to Los Angeles to face his second trial on rape and sexual assault charges. That second conviction is now the only thing keeping him in prison, after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his original verdict in a 4-3 ruling on […]

Actors Access, the leading online platform for film and TV casting, was hit with a class action lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that it illegally charges performers for access to auditions. The lawsuit, filed in L.A. Superior Court, accuses the platform of predatory conduct, and of charging working actors hundreds of dollars a year for upgrades […]

SAG-AFTRA is urging members to support a new agreement with the major record labels, which establishes conditions under which singers’ voices can be replicated with AI. The union announced a tentative agreement with the labels — including Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Disney Music Group — on Friday, saying that […]

Watch Latin American Music Awards Los Angeles film and TV production has begun to rebound from last year’s strikes, but still remains well below pre-strike levels, according to data released Thursday by FilmLA. Total location shoot days increased to 6,823 in the first quarter of 2024, up 23% from the fourth quarter of 2023. But […]

Leslie Moonves, the former CEO of CBS, was fined $15,000 on Wednesday by the L.A. City Ethics Commission for obtaining secret information in 2017 about an LAPD sex assault investigation of which he was the target. The commission voted 4-0 to approve the penalty, which is the maximum allowed for ethics violations under the L.A. […]

A group of actors filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday against Casting Networks, one of a handful of websites that connects actors to commercial auditions, alleging that the platform functions as an illegal pay-for-play system. Casting Networks offers actors a free tier and two premium tiers. The paid options allow actors to upload more video […]

Two men who rented “Yesterday” on Amazon Prime after seeing Ana de Armas in the trailer, only to discover that her role was removed in the final cut of the film, have settled their false advertising lawsuit. Peter Rosza and Conor Woulfe sued Universal in 2022, alleging that they were each cheated out of $3.99. […]

IATSE announced Friday that two more local guilds have reached tentative deals on a new contract, bringing the union closer to an agreement on all “craft-specific” matters. The latest deals involve Local 728, which covers set lighting technicians, and Local 892, the Costume Designers Guild. With those agreements, 10 of the 13 “West Coast” locals […]

Disney argued Tuesday that it had a First Amendment right to fire Gina Carano, the actor who played a bounty hunter on “The Mandalorian,” after she allegedly trivialized the Holocaust in an Instagram post. Carano sued in February, arguing that the company unlawfully retaliated against her for expressing her personal political views, which were at […]

Would you buy a car from an AI chatbot? What if it looked and talked like Tom Hanks? These are the sorts of questions kicking around Sacramento, where lawmakers are considering a slew of proposals to regulate artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood actors, is pushing for legislation that would require detailed consent for […]

Popular on Variety “Fallout,” the post-apocalyptic series debuting this week on Amazon Prime, is expected to relocate to California for its second season, thanks to $25 million in California tax credits. The California Film Commission announced Monday that it has awarded $152 million in tax incentives to a dozen TV shows. The list also includes […]

Prosecutors intend to argue that Alec Baldwin could not control his emotions on the set of “Rust,” and that he “shamelessly lied” and repeatedly changed his story after accidentally shooting the film’s cinematographer. The actor is due to go on trial in July in Santa Fe, N.M., on a charge of involuntary manslaughter for firing […]

A judge has ruled that “Top Gun: Maverick” did not infringe on an article about Navy fighter pilots that inspired the original 1986 film. Paramount bought the rights to the article, “Top Guns,” from author Ehud Yonay in May 1983. But the studio did not re-acquire the rights, which had reverted to Yonay’s widow and […]

Faith Stowers, a former “Vanderpump Rules” cast member, accused NBCUniversal on Friday of racist harassment and retaliation, becoming the latest Bravo star to sue over her treatment on a popular reality show. Stowers appeared on Seasons 4 and 5 of the series, which aired from 2015 to 2017. In her lawsuit, she alleges that castmate […]

George Carlin‘s estate has settled a lawsuit over an AI-generated imitation of the late comedian, with the creators agreeing to remove it from their YouTube channel and podcast feed. In January, the Dudesy podcast released “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” which purported to be an hour-long special created by artificial intelligence. Carlin died in […]

When the Writers Guild of America went on strike last May, union leaders argued that artificial intelligence posed an existential threat to writers, painting a picture of a dystopian future in which TV shows might be crafted by one writer and a machine. Ten months later, the tone in Hollywood labor circles has shifted significantly. […]

The American Federation of Musicians has voted to ratify its new contract with the major studios, which provides for streaming residuals and protections from artificial intelligence. The union represents musicians who perform on TV and movie scores or who appear on screen. Following 12 days of negotiations in January and February, it reached a tentative […]

Georgia has dropped an effort to cap its billion-dollar film and TV tax credit, after the state House and Senate could not reach agreement on the issue. Lawmakers have been working for nearly a year on proposals to rein in the incentive, which is the largest of any state in the nation. But the General […]

Popular on Variety A former friend of con artist Anna Sorokin was allowed on Tuesday to proceed with a defamation lawsuit against Netflix over the Shonda Rhimes miniseries, “Inventing Anna.” Netflix had argued that Rhimes and the other show creators have a “literary license” to give their interpretation of events. In rejecting that argument, Chief […]